Another Reality screening: Genre cinema in the Arab world

The Garden Cinema Film Talk

AWAN partnered with The Arab Film Club to present Another Reality: Genre Shorts by Arab Women Filmmakers, here at the Garden Cinema, a programme curated by Sarah Agha.

AWAN is the UK’s only contemporary multi-arts festival dedicated to showcasing inspiring works from Arab female artists.

Sarah discusses the shorts with their respective directors, and the growth of genre cinema in the Arab world more generally, with input from our audience.

Ladies Coffee (2024) by Amal Al-Agroobi - 10’

On the prowl for lady suitors, Roula invites Zeina and her daughter over for Arabic coffee. But when young Reem participates in a cup reading ritual, she gets more than she bargained for.

The Call (2023) by Riffy Ahmed - 14’

During a difficult visit to her single immigrant mother, Athena discovers that what she thought was age-related mental decline is in fact an inherited magical gift.

In Vitro (2019) by Larissa Sansour - 28’

In an underground orchard in Bethlehem, decades after an other worldly eco disaster, two scientists ruminate on exile, loss, identity and nostalgia.